The human tendency toward nostalgia seems to produce phrases like “the good ole days” and a belief that things were better in our memoryies than they are now in our experience. Old fogeys are frequently heard saying things like “kids these days” and “when I was your age,” only to subsequently launch headfirst into a diatribe about the moral decay of the current batch of youth, whether that means flappers, hippies or hipsters.
Another human tendency is to think that if only everyone agreed with us and did as we arbitrarily directed, all the problems of the world would cease.
I smoke. Therefore I enjoy breathing in smoke from others. When someone isn’t smoking around other people, he or she isn’t reminding others of the inevitability of death, something I think should always be at the forefront of our minds. I like the way smoke smells, and if everybody else smoked like I do, they would as well. We should have state-mandated smoking quotas so that everyone would be like me and enjoy life the way that I do.
I am a rare type of person these days. By this, I mean I use vulgarity in conversation, (As well as when I stub my toe or find my coffee table with my knee).  I also try as hard as I can to make what I say meaningful, regardless of the words I choose to express myself.
Communication has evolved as society has, and it would be better to just accept that things change instead of becoming angry when one fails at restoring some semblance of tradition and stability.
A college football game is the place to be if one wants to become part of something visceral, something bigger than oneself, where one can see and experience. It is a great place to get drunk with friends and have a great Saturday.
It is a fun place to throw your whiskey and coke when the ref makes a bad call, perhaps raining down on someone’s bubble of what he intended life to be.
A recent event inspired me to write this article. Someone felt that he knew how the world should be and wanted to let everyone know about it. I don’t feel it is anyone’s place to judge or condemn others  based on their actions.
It was rather disrespectful to those who try to live in the best way they know to be told that the character traits they see as important are actually not so and, in fact, not saying certain things, not smoking and not getting excited at football games are what makes a person good, and their continual failings of these arbitrary rules are what leads to the decay of the moral fabric of society. Just because everybody else is absolutely terrified of being dead doesn’t mean that we should be terrified of being alive.
There are those who live as statistically safe a life as they know how, who don’t eat hydrogenated fats and don’t consume alcohol, who don’t skydive and drive motorcycles, who don’t laugh because it might hurt someone’s feelings, who don’t run with scissors, who don’t want to know because knowing might mean that they don’t already know, who drive the speed limit, who only read what others have already read and only think what others have already thought, who don’t curse, who always tell the truth, who don’t smoke, who tomorrow will be dead because the mechanic who put on his or her wheels after he or she got them rotated didn’t tighten the bolts quite enough.
If you can’t live responsibly and smile when something terrible like a cloud of smoke, a certain word or a rain of whiskey is blocking your intended path to happiness, then you’ll have a difficult time in years to come.
“Being you” is one of the most unlikely statistical improbabilities. Think about all of the people who could have been but aren’t; now what are the chances that you are? Basically, it’s impossible to be entirely true to yourself with pressures of society surrounding you, whether known or unknown. We all are guilty of seeking someone’s approval.
I can’t tell you the meaning of life — I’m not certain myself. There are things worth being angry over.
But to be annoyed over periphery consequences of someone else’s chosen existence that may be statistically related to a slight increase in the probability of lung cancer just seems petty.
Alex Gates is a junior majoring in biomedical engineering and philosophy. He can be contacted at
[email protected].